Aerial wire payout system and wire magazine therefor



May 14, 1963 c. v. CORRELL 3,

AERIAL WIRE PAYOUT SYSTEM AND WIRE MAGAZINE THEREFOR Filed July 27. 19612 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVEN TOR. Cue n5 M Coeesu.

May 14, 1963 c. v. CORRELL 3,089,588

AERIAL WIRE PAYOUT SYSTEM AND WIRE MAGAZINE THEREFOR Filed July 27, 19612 Sheets-Sheet 2 Z fiycf INVENTOR. Cue v5 I Caeeszz United States Patent3,089,588 AERIAL WIRE PAYGUT SYSTEM AND WERE MAGAZINE THEREFOR Curtis V.Correll, 2.65 Kenneth Road, Glendale, Calif. Filed July 27, 1961, Ser.No. 127,278 4 Claims. (Cl. 20659) This invention relates to a system forpaying out a length of Wire over a terrain and, particularly, to a wirepayout system for use on land or air vehicles and to a unique wiremagazine for containing and dispensing the wire to be payed out.

The present invention is intended primarily for military application inlaying out, from a helicopter, for example, a long length of wire to beused for telephone communication between remotely located militaryground units. For this reason, the invention will be described inconnection with this particular application. It will become clear as thedescription proceeds, however, that the present payout system issusceptible of numerous other uses and applications. Accordingly, theinvention should not be regarded as limited to the specific illustrativeapplication disclosed herein. Also, the term wire used herein should beconsidered in its broadest sense as encompassing any type of wire,cable, etc.

One of the major difficulties in laying out a long length of militarytelephone wire from the air over a military terrain is breakage of theWire. Thus, the telephone wire which is used for this purpose is quitehue and, therefore, prone to breaking under excessive strain. For thisreason, a relatively steady strain, somewhat below the breakage strengthof the wire, must be maintained in the Wire. Sudden slack in the wiremust be avoided, for example, since the strain in the wire may exceedits breakage strength when the slack is taken up.

Another important requirement of aerial wire payout systems, especiallyfor military use, is the ability to lay out in a single flight a longlength of two or more separate wires. For example, it is not an uncommonmilitary requirement that four wires, ten or more miles in length, belaid out over a military terrain in a single continuous flight. To bepractical, of course, the aerial wire payout system must be economicalboth in its initial manufacture and its subsequent operation.

A general object of this invention is to provide a wire payout systemwhich fulfills the above noted and other requirements of an eifectiveand eflicient wire payout system.

Another object of the invention is to provide a unique wire magazine foruse in the present wire payout system.

Other objects, advantages, and features of the invention will becomereadily evident as the description proceeds.

Briefly, the objects of the invention are attained by providing a wirepayout system in which the Wire is initially stored in magazines, eachconsisting of several separate magazne units arranged in a stack andcemented or otherwise bonded together. Each such magazine unitcornprises a body of molded frangible plastic or other frangiblematerial formed at one side with a long groove, preferably a spiralgroove. The grooved sides of the several magazine units face one end ofthe stack and the wire to be payed out is fitted in the magazinegrooves, the wire passing from the groove in one magazine unit to thegroove in the next unit through appropriately located holes in thefrangible bodies of the units. A free end of the wire extends through ahole in the body of the magazine unit at the other end of the stack.

The wire magazine is placed in a payout tube which, in operation, isfixedly mounted, preferably in an upright position, in a helicopter orother aircraft. During a payout operation, a weight may be attached tothe free end of the wire and then dropped to a selected point on theterrain across which the wire is to be laid or the free end may beotherwise fixed to the terrain. As the helicopter flies over theterrain, the wire is pulled through the back walls of the magazine unitsin succession. The frangible bodies of the units break up as the wire isunreeled and drop from the payout tube.

Additional wire magazines may be placed in the payout tube as theprevious magazines run out. In this case, the wires of each new magazineare connected to the wires of the previous magazine so that :acontinuous telephone communication line of great length may be laid outduring a single flight.

A better understanding of the invention may be had from the followingdetailed description of a presently preferred embodiment thereof, takenin connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a transverse section through the fuselage of a helicopterhaving the present aerial payout system installed therein;

FIG. 1a is an enlarged view of the wire magazine which is used in theaerial payout system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged section taken along line 2-2 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged section taken along line 3-3 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged perspective of a part of one magazine unit of theinvention showing how wires are pulled through the back wall of the unitand the latter breaks up during payout of the wires;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged section taken along line 5-5 in FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged section taken along line 66 in FIG. 3; and

FIG. 7 illustrates, in diagrammatic fashion, the preferred way ofwinding Wire on the present wire magazine.

In these drawings, the numeral 10 denotes a wire magazine constructed inaccordance with the invention, This magazine is made up of a group ofindividual, alternately arranged Wire magazine units 123a and 12b. FIG.2 is a view of the back or normally bottom side of one of the magazineunits 12a, while FIG. 3 is a view of the front or normally top side ofone of the magazine units 12b. As will be explained, these units aremirror images of one another.

Magazine units 1201 and 12b will be seen to comprise a disc-shaped body14. This body is made of a relatively thin, frangible material, such asa thin, frangible plastic, .clay, glass, etc. Any convenient process maybe used in fabricating the magazine unit, such as die casting.

Body 14 includes a disc-like hack wall 16-, on the front side of whichis integrally formed an upstanding rib means 18. This rib means definesat said one side of the magazine unit a long channel or groove 20 tocontain the wire 22. to be payed out. The wire has been omitted fromFIGS. 2 and 3 for the sake of clarity. Preferably, the

rib means 18 consists of a single rib which spirals inwardiy from theouter edge of the magazine unit, as shown, to provide the wire groove 20with a continuous spinal configuration. It will become evident as thedescription proceeds, however, that other rib and groove configurationsare possible. Back wall 16 of the magazine uni-ts 12a and 12b ispreferably formed with a series of curved slots 23 in alignment with thewire groove 20. These slots are spaced, as shown, so as to leave solidspoke-like back Wall portions 16a. These slots are not absolutelyessential and may be omitted if desired.

In the completed wire magazine 10, the individual magazine units 12a and12b are alternately and coaxially arranged in a stack with the front orgrooved sides of the units facing one end of the stack, i.e., the upperend of the stack as the latter is viewed in FIGS. 1 and 1a. The wire 22to be payed out (actually consisting of two separate wires side by side,as shown) is fitted in the grooves 20 of the several magazine units, thelatter having holes 24 adjacent the ends of their respective wiregrooves 20 through which the wires 22 pass from the groove in onemagazine unit to the groove in the next. Free ends 26 of the wires 22extend through hole 24 in the frangible body of the lowermost magazineunit in FIGS. 1 and 1a. The opposite free ends 28 of the wires areexposed at the upper end of the magazine, as shown.

The several magazine units 12a and 1217 are bonded together by means ofa suitable adhesive, for example, to form the unitary magazine structure10. The magazine 10 may be dipped in a liquid plastic bath or otherwiseprovided with a suitable protective coating, as desired. In actualfabrication of the magazine 10, the wires 22 are first wound in thegroove 20 in the lowermost magazine unit of FIGS. 1 and la and are thenpassed through a hole 24 in the second unit and wound in the groove 20in the latter unit. The remaining units are wound in succession in thisway. The units may be bonded to the previous units as they are wound orall of the units may be bonded together after winding, as desired.

Preferably some means are provided for retaining the wires 22 in themagazine grooves 20 since otherwise the Wires are prone to slipping outof the grooves during fabrication of the magazine. One convenient way ofrestraining the wires in the grooves is to enlarge or thicken the outeredge of the rib 18 of each magazine unit so as to form wire retainingshoulders 30 on the rib, as shown best in FIGS. and 6.

Referring now to FIG. 1, the numeral 32 denotes a military helicopterwhich is commonly used for laying telephone wires over a militaryterrain. Attached to the frame of this helicopter are one or more tubes34 which hold the wire magazines of this invention while their wires 22are being payed out over the terrain. Tube 34 is preferably verticallydisposed and opens at its lower end through the underside of thehelicopter. The lower end of the tube has an internal shoulder 36 toseat the outer periphery of the wire magazine 10 inserted in the tube.

In a typical wire laying operation between two remotely located militaryground units, a wire magazine 10 is placed in the payout tube 34 andadditional wire magazines are stored in the helicopter, depending on thelength of wire to be laid. To the lower, free ends 26 of the wires 22 ofthe magazine in the tube is attached a weight 38. As the helicopterflies over one ground unit, the weight 38 is released to drop to theground, and the helicopter flies along a desired course, whicheventually passes over the second ground unit.

As the weight 38 drops to the ground and during the subsequent flight ofthe helicopter toward the second ground unit, the wires 22 of the wiremagazine 10 in the payout tube 34 pull through the underside of itsmagazine units 12a and 12b in succession. That is to say, the wires pullfirst through the underside of the lowermost unit 12a of the magazine,then through the underside of the second unit, and so on. As the wirespull through the underside of each magazine unit, they cut or breakthrough the lower or back wall 16 of the unit progressively from one endof the wire groove to the other. Because of the frangible quality of thematerial from which the magazine units are made, the latter break up ordisintegrate as the wires pay out from the magazine. The broken piecesof the magazine merely drop from the payout tubes. Accordingly, the wiremagazine gradually drops in the payout tube as the telephone wiresunwind.

It has been found that each wire magazine may conveniently contain up toone mile or so of wire. If the total ground distance over which thetelephone Wires are to extend exceeds the length of wire contained ineach magazine, additional wire magazines are placed in the payout tube34 as the previous magazines become hausted. The lower, free ends 26 ofthe wires 22 on each fresh wire magazine placed in the payout tube arejoined to the upper, free ends 23 of the wires on the previous wiremagazine. In this way, a continuous telephone line may be laid over anydesired distance. In practice, however, telephone communication throughwires of the type used in military aerial payout systems is limited to amaximum distance on the order of eleven miles because of the electricalresistance of the wires.

The free ends of the wires of successive Wire magazines rnay be joinedin any convenient way. For example, the free ends may be simply splicedtogether by twisting. In the alternative, some type of quick Connectcouplings may be attached to the wires.

As was preliminarily noted, one of the major difliculties encountered inan aerial wire payout system is breakage of the wire due to excessivestrain. In the present aerial wire payout system, the relatively massivewire magazine 10 is not rotated or otherwise moved by the wires 22 asthe latter pay out. Accordingly, the wire magazine 10 offers norotational inertia or momentum which might create excessive or variablestrain in the wires. Also, the frangible material of the magazine unitsis relatively thin (the thickness of back wall 16 is on the order of.020 inch and the thickness of the rib 18 is on the order of .050 inch)so that the resistance to cutting or pulling of the wires 22 through thematerial as the wires pay out imposes only a light strain on the wiresfar less than their breakage strength. The wires can, of course, unreelfreely from the wire magazine 10 in the areas of the curved slots 23 inthe magazine units 1211 and 12b.

The wire magazine 10 can be wound in several alternate ways which causethe wires 22 to unwind in different directions from the wire magazineduring pay out. For example, the magazine can be wound so that the wiresunwind from the center toward the outer edge or from the outer edgetoward the center of each magazrne unit. In this case, the wires willextend from one end of the wire groove 20 in each magazine, radially'across the grooved or front side of that unit to the hole 24 at theopposite end of the wire groove in the fol lowing, ad acent magazineunit and through this hole into the latter groove. When the wiremagazine 10 is wound in this way, then, free sections of wire,approximately equal in length to the radial dimension of the magazineunits, extend between and radially across the pairs of adacent units.During pay out, the strain in the length of wire extending from thehelicopter 32 to the ground is momentarily relieved upon unreeling ofthe wires to each of these radial wire sections. Accordingly, the lengthof wire extending to the ground becomes alternately slack and taut whichis undesirable since the wires are prone to break under such alternatingstrain.

Preferably, the wire magazine 10 is wound so that the wires 22 extendfrom one end of the wire groove 20 in each magazine unit, through thehole 24 in the adjacent end of the wire groove in the following,adjacent magazine unit and thence into the adjacent end of the latterwire groove. FIG. 7 illustrates this method of windmg in diagrammaticfashion. When the wire magazine 10 is wound in this way, the free,radial sections of wire and the alternating strain created by the firstmethod of winding are eliminated. During pay out from a wire magazinewound in this alternate way, the wires 22 unwind from the center towardthe outer edge of one magazine, then from the outer edge toward thecenter of the following unit, then, again, from the center toward theouter edge of the next following unit, and so on. In other words, thewires unwind in one direction, say, from the outside toward the center,from all of the magazine units 12a and in the opposite direction fromall of the alternate magazine units 12b.

It is evident that if the several magazine units 12a and 12b of the wiremagazine were identical, so that all had clockwise inwardly spiralingwire grooves 20, like units 12a, say, then, the wires 22 would unwind inone circumferential direction, in a clockwise direction, for instance,from the units 12a and in a counterclockwise direction from each of theunits 1212. In this case, the wire grooves 20 and ribs 18 or" theseveral magazine units would be aligned and the ribs of each unit wouldbe bonded over substantially their entire length to the adjacent units.Accordingly, there would be a tendency for ribs 18 of the units toremain intact during unreeling of the wires from the magazine. This isundesirable since the wire magazine would then not break up ordisintegrate during pay out to allow proper unreeling of the wires fromthe magazine. Moreover, the payout tube 34- might not be cleared of themagazine which would prevent proper placement of a fresh wire magazinein the tube.

The above problems are avoided by making the magazine units 12a and 12bmirror images of one another so that the wire grooves 20 in the units12a spiral inwardly toward the center of the units as the groovesprogress in a clockwise direction around the units, as the latter areviewed from the front. The wire grooves 24 in the units 12b spiralinwardly in a counterclockwise direction. When these magazine units arealternately located in the wire magazine 10, as shown in FIG. 1a, thewire groove in each unit crosses the ribs 18 of the adjacent units atseveral positions along their length. As a result, as the wires 22unreel from the wire magazine 10 during pay out of the wires over aterrain, they periodically out through any portions of the ribs 18 ofprevious magazine units which may remain after unreeling of the wiresfrom those units so as to assure complete break up or disintegration ofthe wire magazine in the payout tube. As explained earlier, the brokenpieces of the magazine drop through the lower end of the payout tube.The wire is preferably wound on the magazine units, however, in such away that during pay out, it continues to unwind in the same directionfrom all of the units, either clockwise or counterclockwise dependingupon whether the twist in the wire is to be increased or decreased.

Clearly, therefore, the invention herein described and illustrated isfully capable of attaining the several ob jects and advantagespreliminarily set forth.

What is claimed is:

1. A wire magazine for use in a wire payout system of the characterdescribed, comprising a plurality of separate magazine units, eachincluding a generally discshaped body of relatively thin, frangiblematerial formed at one side with an upstanding rib which spiralsinwardly from the outer edge of the respective body and defines a spiralgroove at said one side of the respective :body, said magazine unitsbeing generally coaxially arranged in a stack with the grooved sides ofthe several magazine units facing one end of the stack, a wire fitted inthe grooves of the several magazine units, the body of each magazineunit having a hole adjacent one end of the groove in the respectivemagazine unit through which said Wire passes from the groove in onemagazine unit to the groove in the adjacent magazine unit and the bodyof the magazine unit at the other end of said stack having a holeadjacent one end of the groove in the latter unit through which a freeend of said wire extends, and means "bonding the adjacent magazine unitstogether.

2. The subject matter of claim 1 wherein said holes are located so thatsaid wire extends from one end of the groove in each magazine unit tothe adjacent end of the groove in the adjacent magazine unit.

3. The subject matter of claim 1 wherein said bodies of the magazineunits comprise a molded, frangible plastic material.

4. The subject matter of claim 1 wherein the grooves in adjacent unitsspiral in opposite directions.

References Qited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,495,174 Harmon May 27, 1924 2,200,721 Marinsky et al May 14, 19402,339,475 Hartsell et al J an. 18, 1944 2,436,402 Potter Feb. 24, 19482,490,837 Scott Dec. 13, 1949 2,552,594 Scott May 15, 1951 2,973,911Rayburn Mar. 7, 1961

1. A WIRE MAGAZINE FOR USE IN A WIRE PAYOUT SYSTEM OF THE CHARACTERDESCRIBED, COMPRISING A PLURALITY OF SEPARATE MAGAZINE UNITS, EACHINCLUDING A GENERALLY DISCSHAPED BODY OF RELATIVELY THIN, FRANGIBLEMATERIAL FORMED AT ONE SIDE WITH AN UPSTANDING RIB WHICH SPIRALSINWARDLY FROM THE OUTER EDGE OF THE RESPECTIVE BODY AND DEFINES A SPIRALGROOVE AT SAID ONE SIDE OF THE RESPECTIVE BODY, SAID MAGAZINE UNITSBEING GENERALLY COAXIALLY ARRANGED IN A STACK WITH THE GROOVED SIDES OFTHE SEVERAL MAGAZINE UNITS FACING ONE END OF THE STACK, A WIRE FITTED INTHE GROOVES OF THE SEVERAL MAGAZINE UNITS, THE BODY OF EACH MAGAZINEUNIT HAVING A HOLE ADJACENT ONE END OF THE GROOVE IN THE RESPECTIVEMAGAZINE UNITS, THE BODY OF SAID WIRE PASSES FROM THE GROOVE IN ONEMAGAZINE UNIT TO THE GROOVE IN THE ADJACENT MAGAZINE UNIT AND THE BODYOF THE MAGAZINE UNIT AT THE OTHER END OF SAID STACK HAVING A HOLEADJACENT ONE END OF THE GROOVE IN THE LATTER UNIT THROUGH WHICH A FREEEND OF SAID WIRE EXTENDS, AND MEANS BONDING THE ADJACENT MAGAZINE UNITSTOGETHER.